Giant Chunk of Elevated Subway Crashes Through Windshield of Moving Car

[randomness]

One irrational fear I have when passing under an elevated track is that something will fall on me.

I suppose perhaps it's not that irrational?

65th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside, Queens, underneath the 7 train, this afternoon:

Gothamist says it's scrap from earlier construction work.
From http://gothamist.com/2019/02/21/final_destination_7_train_queens.php:

Transit reporter Aaron Gordon noted on Twitter, "A source tells me the wood is from the girders that support the tracks, not the track or trackbed itself. The wood was probably scrap not properly secured. The tracks have been determined as safe for use."

Less than a week ago, another sizable piece of wood fell, narrowly missing someone, that time inside the Bedford Avenue station for the L train. From Gothamist again (http://gothamist.com/2019/02/15/what_the_l_falling_plywood_version.php?fbclid=IwAR2rw-dpn6QST8vZwZRctTMaScwYG_XV-RnokyXfo-3WOaJxgBSu00gLFTY#photo-1):

She added, "It looked like a pretty solid piece of plywood. It made a huge bang. We all started running because there was a big dust cloud from the plaster. When the dust settled I was talking to people around me and they said it was maybe five inches from hitting me. I’m pretty sure a piece of rebar hit me but I was wearing a winter jacket."

I'd have thought after that the MTA might be looking to secure things that might fall, but maybe they were just checking inside stations.

It's a big system. But I think maybe my fear isn't that irrational?

Comments

[bikergeek]

Nope, not irrational at all. Look at that chunk of the West Side Elevated Highway that fell through back in 1973.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Elevated_Highway#1973_collapse

[minoanmiss]

Jimmy H. Cricket.

[randomness]

Yeah, I was a kid back then, but I do remember it.

Maybe that's where my fear comes from. I never thought of that.

[bikergeek]

There's also the chunk of Big Dig ceiling that fell off and killed a woman not long after construction was completed.

(yeah, I know, I'm a Ray of Midnight, I know about all these engineering disasters and failures)

[whitebird]

The Bay Area San Rafael bridge is merrily bombarding lower deck vehicles with random chunks of concrete.

The upper-deck joint transitions are somehow crumbling. I think they are saying they need to replace up to 61 joints.

[randomness]

I heard about that! And that's all happening even without major seismic activity.

I'm told it's been a problem that's been getting worse for years.